This invention relates to methods of treating medical disorders. In particular, this invention relates to a method of treating the cause of epilepsy, which is rooted in the basic concepts described by the Goldman equation. This equation describes the relation between the cell rest membrane potential and the concentration of ions inside and outside the cells in e.g. nervous and muscle tissue. This implies that cell excitability can be modified and therefore the physiological inter-connectivity between cells. This interconnectivity is a major factor in the generation of e.g. epilepsy. The key concept of this invention is that if cell rest membrane electrical potentials are modified, epilepsy, and perhaps other neurological disorders might be effectively controlled.
Epilepsy is a debilitating neurological disorder. Functional control of many or all body functions can be lost and further permanent brain damage results from each generalized epileptic attack.
It is known that an epileptic seizure is manifested by an uncontrolled propagation of nerve impulses throughout the nerve cells in certain, areas of the brain. The nerve impulses of an epileptic seizure are characterized by many synchronized discharges, which may involve the whole brain. As a consequence the control of many body functions is lost. During epileptic seizures, the normal physiological interconnectivity between brain cells is greatly altered, resulting in a synchronized highly pathological brain activity.
It is well known that the normal, electrical, rest membrane potential difference between intra-cellular fluid (fluid enclosed by the cell membrane) of brain cells and the extra-cellular brain fluid (fluid outside the membrane) is about xe2x88x920.07 volts (xe2x88x9270 millivolts or mV.) The intra-cellular brain fluid is at a more negative potential than the extra-cellular fluid potential. If this potential becomes more negative (cells are hyper-polarized), the likelihood of an epileptic seizure is decreased. In the field of biophysics, the well known Goldmann equation describes how the membrane potential depends on the concentrations of ions in the intra- or extra-cellular medium. Consequently this equation describes how changes in the extra-cellular ion concentrations will result in a hyper-polarization of brain cells which will result in suppression of epileptic seizures.
A method of treating epilepsy whereby seizures can be suppressed or prevented by using extra-cellular fluid (in the central nervous system, cerebral spinal fluid or xe2x80x9cCSFxe2x80x9d) that is extracted from the brain, e.g. from one of the brain ventricles. The extracted brain fluid is treated to change the concentration of ions in the fluid in such a way that cells surrounded by this modified fluid will be hyper-or hypo-polarized which is quantitatively predicted by the Goldmann equation. The ion-adjusted fluid is re-injected into the brain into a specific brain structure, which may contain the brain cells that generate the epileptic seizure (hyper-polarization needed) or in a brain structure that modulates the epileptic region (hyper-polarization needed for suppressing structures and hypo-polarization needed for activating structures). The increased negative potential difference (hyper-polarization) between the intra and extra-cellular fluid in the epilepsy-generating brain structure increases the potential difference that the nerve cells must overcome to be involved in the generation of an epileptic seizure. In effect, the invention includes modulating the interconnectivity of nerve cells by modulating the rest membrane electrical potential.